20 oz. CO2 Tank?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

You know those smaller aluminum CO2 tanks designed for paintball use? Like this (http://www.paintball-discounters.com/get_item_010675d_co2-tank-aluminum-20-oz.htm)? Would one of them work for a small DIY calcium reactor? Any thoughts?

[Delphinus]

I think the connectors or fittings or whatever they're called are different for the paintball tanks than they are for the regulators that you'd use to control the CO2 bubble rate.

Having said that there is a kit (I forget who makes it, but you can get it at Elite) for FW planted setups that uses the paintball cylinders as the CO2 source for bubbling CO2 into a planted tank. I don't see why it couldn't be used for a reactor.

But then having said THAT, there are two downsides that I see: 1) the kit itself isn't cheap, it's like $200-300 if memory serves. I paid about $80 each for my two cylinders (one is a 5lb'er and one is a 20lb'er) so there's no costs savings in the end. And 2) Small cylinders kind of suck. They empty out pretty fast and while I don't know about the paintball cylinders, I found that it cost me the same to fill up a 2lb cylinder (I had a wee little 2lb cylinder for a while) as it did to fill up a 5lb or a 20lb. So there wasn't a whole lot of cost incentive to stick with a small cylinder.

If you're interested in looking at CO2 I think the thing to do is look around at the fire extinguisher places. My 5lb cylinder cost me $80 - it was a fire extinguisher in a previous life - they retrofitted the CO2 valve on it, hydrostat tested it and FILLED it for $80. Wow. My 20lb cylinder is a beverage machine thing. But I bought it off saltwaterconnection.com several years ago - I have no idea where you're normally supposed to buy beverage CO2 cylinders from. Oh crap, that was probably 5 years ago I bought that thing. I probably have to get it retested the next time I go to fill it.

[tang daddy]

yes a very good point made, maybe chef you have a space issue and want a smaller tank but with that in mind you would have to fill it more often and keep in mind that filling is gonna cost roughly the same so in the end it might be better to go with a larger tank. Try this a 20lb tank could last you a year filling it only once In vancouver they do it for 20bucks a 2lb tank about 10 times maybe less but say 10bucks each time?

[michika]

Pony bottle from a dive shop may work. I looked into it while I was setting up my reactor on my 24g.

[Delphinus]

yes a very good point made, maybe chef you have a space issue and want a smaller tank but with that in mind you would have to fill it more often and keep in mind that filling is gonna cost roughly the same so in the end it might be better to go with a larger tank. Try this a 20lb tank could last you a year filling it only once In vancouver they do it for 20bucks a 2lb tank about 10 times maybe less but say 10bucks each time?
I found it was actually much worse than your example. My 2lb cylinder would last about 2-3 months at best and would cost about $30 to fill. My 20lb cylinder lasts easily 18 months or more, and costs about $35 to fill.

[Nevin]

The regulator I have seen for paintball cylinders is made by Red Sea. CAD$180 at Big Als Online in a kit with some other stuff. US$115 from marinedepot.com without the kit. I have seen just the regulator advertised online by a US vendor for US$75 but don't remember where--sorry!

KMS Tools charges by the pound for their CO2, but I suspect they probably wouldn't fill paintball cylinders as they cater mainly to welders.

I have checked this out before for a freshwater planted tank and wouldn't recommend it unless it is necessary to fit in a certain space or achieve a particular "look". I ended up buying a used 5lb tank and Milwaukee regulator for $100.

Regards,
Nevin

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Cool...thanks for all your help guys. Just on my quest to know all things reef. I'm in the Calcium Reactors phase now :)